One of the main reasons why we completely stopped buying coffees at coffee shops is basic economics. Buying a cup/mug or two a day adds up to a lot of money over a year. In fact, you'd probably be surprised to learn that the Starbucks coffee you love so much could end up costing you as much as a very expensive Italian espresso machine...even one with a touchscreen interface!
And by expensive, we don't mean a couple of hundred bucks, but well into the thousands of dollars! Conservatively, if you get yourself a mug of cappuccino, latte, or Americano, from your favorite store that cost about $4, four to six times a week, you'll end up spending between $800 and $1,200 per year on coffee. If you get yourself two coffees per day, each and every day of the work week, you'd be spending over $2,000 per year on coffee. Let's not even think about people who get three Starbucks coffees per day (at least $3,000). These numbers start snowballing very quickly if you frequent quite a few coffee shops.
Back in August, I was working quite a few hours, as well as writing, teaching, and going to graduate school. With my heavy schedule, I found that I needed power naps and lots of coffee to keep me going. After a few weeks, I quickly ran the numbers in my head, which was straightforward, and saw how much money I could potentially be spending if I did this each and every month. I opted to get myself a vacuum coffee maker, a coffee bean grinder, and expensive beans. Within a few weeks, my appliances were paid off and I was starting to save money.
The basic ingredients for a good mug cappuccino cost about 50 cents. That's a stark contrast to what you pay in coffee shops. If you're a drink a lot of coffee, logic dictates that you can get yourself an expensive espresso machine and pay it off within a few months, depending on how much money you usually spend on coffee.
Here are some of our favorite espresso machines:
1. Swiss-Made Jura Capresso Coffee & Espresso Machines: Jura Capresso machines are quite good, but they can get expensive quickly. Still, you can get away with an excellent machine for around $700. The ENA 3 is a good bet, especially if you can find it refurbished for around $500.
2. Gaggia and Modo Mio Espresso Machines: The Gaggia is a good bet for someone who doesn't want to break the bank with an overly expensive machine. It still brews a mean cup of java, but it works with capsules, so you can't experiment.
3. Futuristic Espresso Machines: We like the GRAEF ES91, but it's just on the verge of being too expensive. New, it sells for a grand. For that money, you can get very good machines from a variety of manufacturers. The trick we've found is to look for deals, including second-hand and refurbished machines.
4. Touch Screen Espresso Machines: If you don't really want to spend time making your own cup and watching over it (which has sort of become a ritual for us), then look no further than these machines that have touch screens.
5. Gaggia Super Automatic Espresso Machines: One of the main benefits of getting an espresso machine is that you can brew a variety of different types of coffee, which is something that you can't do with a plain vanilla coffee maker. From crema coffee, to a latte or a capuccino, these machines can do most of them extremely well. They start at around $800 and go up to $1,300.
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(Images: Flickr members Ernst Vikne licensed for use under Creative Commons and INeedCoffee licensed for use under Creative Commons)
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Coffee replaced cigarettes years ago. :)
The key to good espresso lies more in the grinder than the espresso machine. You need a burr grinder to get a consistent grind size without burning the beans. Macap and Mazzer are two brands to start looking at for a good grinder.
I absolutely love my delonghi magnifica machine - nothing like a fabulous latte to start the day!
These are actually beautiful but I have even a better suggestion.
Wean yourself off of the coffee or caffeine habit!
I was forced to do this several years ago due to chronic acid reflux disease which is aggravated by caffeine.
Initially (but for a very short time, a few days), my body felt the withdrawel (headaches/fatigue). Once I got over that and started drinking more H20, I found I woke up more refreshed. That groggy, I need my coffee, feeling comes being a regular coffee drinker, its not natural. Completely went away. My insomnia also disappeared.
That said, I love a nice latte every now & then but will never go back to a daily habit.
Oh, one more thing. If you want to wean yourself off slowly without withdrawel, you mix caffeinated with decaf. Keep slowly increasing the decaf portion until you're at 100% decaf.
I swear by Krups' small espresso maker with steamer. No loud machine, just steam driven. I had one for 10 years and replaced it five years ago. It was so cheap to replace used that I bought two. Sometimes I find them at yard sales for $5 or $10 dollars. I scoop them up and give them as gifts.
Doesn't have to cost hundreds or thousands to save you money.
Another reason to make your own coffee at home....
if you don't live near an Intelligentsia store, there's no reason to punish yourself (both financially and via poor quality) and go to a 'Bucks. Order fresh roasted beans online, delivered in a few days to your door, grind, tamp and you've got yourself an amazing cup.
Support small businesses when you order your fresh roasted beans online! You're still saving LOTS of money by brewing at home...
Here's a company called "44 North Coffee" that just started up in Maine:
http://44northcoffee.com/
They are super small with just one roaster, and they buy their beans green from fair trade farmers.
Enjoy :D
The biggest advantage to making coffee at home is that you can buy really good beans. The beans that starbucks or any other chain is using are probably cheap, burnt and stale. But for a fraction of the price of a cup of coffee at some mediocre cafe you can buy some of the best beans available anywhere. There are tons of great artisan roasters online, both big and small, and they're roasting top quality beans from all around the world. And they'll show up on your doorstep in a couple days, when they're still fresh (use them within 2 weeks). There might even be some good roasters in your city.
Then you can brew whatever kind of coffee you want, press pot, drip, pour over, chemex, espresso, etc. You don't need to spend a lot on a machine, but expect to spend some money on a quality grinder (none of those spiny blade things). A good burr grinder will probably cost at least $200 - 500 depending on the quality of the burrs, and how adjustable it is (think of it as 2-5 months of daily lattes at SB). Baratza is making some really good grinders, almost commercial quality, for the home.
With good beans and a good grinder you can really taste the coffee, and maybe not even want to cover it up with milk and sugar. Although making a tasty machiatto is a real treat.
Hahaha "If you're a drink a lot of coffee" YES! I am, indeed.
If you're drinking two or three Starbucks a day, you're probably not at home during that time. You will still be buying the coffee out if you're that addicted- I don't think you'll be heading home to make it yourself with your fancy pants machine.
Two things...first, I travel for work, I MUST have my one fabulous cup in the morning, and hotel coffee is disgusting. I have an AeroPress coffee maker that I travel with along with a zipper bag of home ground beans. The AeroPress is a vacuum type coffee maker made of plastic and weighs nothing in my bag.
Second, if you think you have acid reflux, you may not. You may have a lack of stomach acid. Try an 8 oz glass of water with a TBSP of raw cider vinegar (I add a drop of Stevia to make "the medicine go down") before your morning coffee or each meal. After 20 years of Tums, Zantac, Prilosec, and Nexium...I don't use them any more. More money for coffee beans!
I agree with Tinka. The problem with a coffee machine at home, no matter how good, is that if you're out of the house, you can't use it. If you have an office lenient enough to let you have an espresso machine in your office (or cube), then you can't use it at home. You're still probably going to be buying coffee.
@mauishopgirl some of us drink coffee for the flavor and experience not just the caffeine.
@Mauishopgirl I'm in the same boat (mitral valve prolapse, which is linked to low fluid volume and chronic fatigue), plus coffee comes from and is brewed using many different methods and can have carcinogens - up to 17, from what I hear!
It's so true that coffee is very expensive to get to go, and let's not forget the environmental cost. Traditionally grown coffee deforests whole areas of the rainforest. This is why I buy shade-grown certified (Starbucks has a shade-grown Mexican variety) or if the certified stuff is not available, many Mexican brands are shade-grown but I prefer to have it be certified so I know for sure.
Also the throw-away cups - it's great if people are using travel mugs, but some of those machines use pods which only make ONE cup of coffee and besides killing forests / habitat, create waste as well.
I'm probably giving up coffee but I will still advocate shade-grown to save many songbirds, toucans, sloths, small cat species and huge areas of land in the tropical rainforests (Rustic shade-grown also supports small family farmers).
Toddy Coffee for the win, y'all. You can brew up a pound of coffee concentrate, and make it hot or iced in a snap. You could also bring a thermos to work and mix your own there, solving the "not at home and needing coffee" situation. I heart my Toddy Coffee maker. Less acid, too. I use Community coffee & chicory and it makes sweet, sweet jet fuel.
Doesn't everyone overspend in one category or another of their life, based on how other people determine they should be spending their money?
I love going out for coffee. I don't drink the beverage for the caffeine; I love the taste. It is my biggest treat of the day. I like a dark roast with a splash of milk; if I'm having an espresso then my choice is a macchiato. I usually make my cup at home, but I do like to have someone else make me the beverage once in a while. And I love Starbucks coffee; they know how to brew it. It's deliciously strong, and not bitter.
When I go to Starbucks and get them to fill my Thermos with the dark roast of the day. They charge me for a tall and take ten cents off since I have my own mug. My Thermos holds just over two tall cups. Cost per cup: between 70 and 90 cents depending on where I'm buying. It costs me the same thing to make coffee at home (I did the math factoring in the cost of propane for heating water and the milk). So, getting a thermos to go the odd morning I'm out and about is a treat that doesn't break the bank.
Moreover, I live in an RV; a French press is all I have room for. So, I'm not going to sweat the odd caramel macchiato or cinnamon dolce latté I treat myself to.
Plus, if I had an espresso machine, I would probably drink way more coffee than would be good for me!
so how do i make my own coffee at work without looking weird? unless you are a grad student who goes home to have naps, it doesn't seem feasible (but how I wish!). btw, starbucks coffee is better than my office coffee which is really really sad.
Second the Toddy cold brew. I use inexpensive grocery store coffee and get a smooth, great-tasting brew that's good hot or cold. I bought a nice compact stainless steel thermos and bring it to work every day. Over the past couple of years I've saved a stooooopid amount of money.
Crucial to home brew is a GOOD travel cup to take it along. My fave is the Bodum 16oz stainless. The lid is the crucial part -- 2-piece hard molded plastic doesn't leak, and is easy to clean -- no O ring to get rancid (I take cream). Had it for a year and it still tastes fresh.
Yeaaaaah, I just get regular coffee. It's usually around $1, and I can afford a buck or two here and there. I still make most of my coffee at home, but it's not so bad when I cave and get coffee out. Plus, I enjoy sitting in coffee shops!
Sbux is for when you're out?
For times like these I fill a to go mug with all the iced latte fixins from my home espresso station, then stop by for ice and a shot or two. Cuts my cost dramatically since a shot is only $.70 and I can make it just how I like it.:)
I'm confused as to why a website dedicated to quality products would continue to name drop Starbucks when a whole "wave" as they say of independently owned and better quality coffee shops exist in any urban area (no, not the mediocre ones). Starbucks is the McDonald's of coffee (although McDonald's coffee might actually taste better, according to consumer reports).
I have no problem with people not wanting to pay $4 for a cup of coffee, but to say you can make the same cup at home with a "fancy" espresso machine is an overstatement. A Marzocco GB5, commonly used in said quality coffee shops will set you back roughly $14,000. This machine allows you to tweak your shots (read: perfect) in ways that a home espresso cannot. The steam wand is capable of producing a range of milk textures that are equally unattainable on a $2,000 machine. And that $4 price tag for a latte or cappucino is not only the result of a better machine but also a trained barista, and quality fresh beans. I'm not saying one should not enjoy a home espresso drink and I think it's great that people have chosen to take matters into their own hands. But let us not forget that there are other dedicated shops out there that deserve more credit than they are sometimes given.
Finally, a note on beans. Yes, Starbucks carries a shade-grown variety. This might be better for the environment but if you care at all about the farmers who devote their lives to coffee beans they rarely get to enjoy themselves, do some research on the differences between "fair trade" and "direct trade." It certainly changed the way I think about fair trade...